Lexingtonlaw.com, do these repair agency’s really work?

[MeanWS6]

I am going to do as much as I can, but I am beginning to think that I need more help in getting errors off of my CR. Lexington seems to pop up in all the search engines, but are they for real. Anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with them? I have heard they have accidentally removed positive accounts from CR’s.

[Josh Mcgrath]

Let just say that we people on here can help you more than they can. And cheaper too!

BTW, I gotta 98 T/A T1cam blah blah blah... LS1 baby!

[MeanWS6]

yea, I have learned alot since joining this board. I am going to continue doing it myself, when I have questions I will just post em up!!!

[Guest jeeptravel]

The FTC and other government entities as well as every credit repair book out there I have read mention that these companies are usually scams and at best they do no more than what you can do yourself.

I echo the sentiments that this forum is awesome.

[retmar]

Most of them charge a flat amount for each TL they get deleted. The problem is that they do exactly what you learn to do here by yourself. Plus, the only money you spend is the money spent for postage and the time it takes you to compose your letter. In short, stay away as all they do is take your money. The same goes for Credit Counselors.

[Screwed510]

Ok, let's see, so someone who works 80+ hrs a week, is better off not doing anything than hiring one of these companies?

I really would like to find a company that can do the legwork for me, and it would be worth my money since I much rather spend my time making money...

BTW if anyone here can help me for a fee, I'd be happy to pay. Lexicngton seems to be fair priced...

But then again I really have not learned anything, in part because I'm dense, and in part because other than Debt Validation, I can't seem to find any useful information. I find a lot of snoty responses like "you should have taken care of your credit..." or "why pay to do something you can do yourself..." Well, I can't do it myself, and I don't want to pay $500.00 upfront to do it for me. At $79.00 setup, Lexington seems like a bargain.

Is there any company out there that can do a reasonable legwork?

Thanks for any responses.

dispensadores@msn.com

[Xanathos]

Would I recommend a credit repair company for someone who's time constrained or doesn't want to learn law? Absolutely (and pay no attention to what the FTC states--they also state that the credit bureaus and CA's play fair and easily correct issues--lobbyists have the FTC in their pockets).

Would I recommend Lexington? No. For one, they aren't CROA compliant (they charge a monthly rate, whether they perform services or not). For another, they don't store documentation or eventually move to litigation.

What I'd recommend finding is one that not only does the repair services, but also keeps documentation and prepares the file to turn over to a lawyer at some point to start suing the offending companies.

[nusteem]

This is exactly what I am looking for. Someone to work for a fee and then turn over the file for litigation if needed. I posted "Looking for the Best Company or Person" and all I get is a bunch of SOS as how I can do it myself and other answers of how I souldn't have got myself in this and they know nothing of what they are answering to.

Are there any real answers here!

[willingtocope]

Okay, folk, I posted this once before, but here it is again...definite answers to your questions...

Here's the text of a post I found on another forum that pretty much sums it all up (I've already posted it here once, but it could stand to be repeated):

Let me try one more time to explain this: there are 4 types of debt correction / elimiination / collection companies. NONE of them are on your side. They all work for the original creditor or the debt collection industry in one form or another. They're known by a bunch of different names and descriptive phrases so it sometime hard to determine what you're dealing with, but here's the way they work.

1. Non-profit, debt settlement company. They call themselves and may even register as non-profit or not-for-profit organizations so that they can take advantage of certain tax laws. They tell you they will arrange for your creditors to charge less interest and eliminate late fees, etc. You're supposed to send them one large check each month, and they will divide it up among your creditors and make your payments. In order to do this, these places actually have agreements with some creditors. They've told the creditor that "some money is better than none" and the settlement company will see to it that you pay every month. In effect, they're collection agencies that work for the creditors...but you pay them. Also, they may not have agreements with all your creditors. The ones that are not included, don't get paid. The ones that don't get paid wind up suing you anyway. Okay, so instead of having 10 bad marks on your credit report, you only have 5. Big deal...your credit is still trashed. And, for the creditors that don't play along, you get to go through the collection process...see item 3.

2. Debt elimination companies. These are the ones that tell you to stop paying creditors, put what money you can afford in a savings account and at some point down the line they will negotiate a settlement with your creditors for a smaller amount. You give them money up front, and they say they'll take a small percentage of what you don't have to pay as settlement. They want the up front money because they know that again, this only works if all your creditors play along. Some of these companies are outright scams. They know that most creditors don't play along, so the just take your money and do nothing. If they do attempt to negotiate on your behalf, only some of your creditors will play along. Most don't. You wind up getting sued by some, have other charge off the account, and even the creditors that do agree mark your credit reports as "Paid for less than agreed". And, all the while that you're not paying your debts you get to go through the "collection process"...see item 3. End result...your credit is trashed.

3. Collection agencies. Most creditors begin by "contracting" their bad debts over to professional collectors. At first, this is done while the creditor still owns the debt so the collector can be mean and nasty and call you at all hours of the day and night and try to intimidate you into paying. If the OC is collecting, they're not bound by the FDCPA and don't need to play nice. A contracted collector gets paid whether you pay or not. After the creditor has tried for about 6 months, they'll "assign" the debt to a professional collector. These guys only get paid if you pay and are bound by the FDCPA, so there are ways to make them play nice. They may agree to take less than the full amount for the debt, but unless you get it all in writing and know all the pitfalls associated with settling debts, they'll "forget" to report it to the orginal creditor or the original creditor will sell the balance to another collector and the whole deal starts over again. If you do pay the assigned collector, your credit report is marked "Paid collection". If you don't pay the "assigned" collector, the creditor may sue. Either way, your credit report is trashed.

4. Junk Debt Buyer. If the orginal creditor can't get you to pay, and the "assigned" collector can't get you to pay or if you settle for less than the full amount, the balance of your debt gets sold to a Junk Debt Buyer. These guys pay pennies on the dollar for the right to continue to hassle you. You don't owe them squat, but that doesn't stop them from giving you a bad time...and, trashing your credit report.

Bottom line. There's NO EASY WAY out of debt (unless you win the lottery). By turning the responsibity for your credit rating over to someone else 99 times out of 100 you wind up with worse credit than you have now. The only simple solution (but not exactly the best) is to declare bankruptcy. Yes, your credit will be trashed for 7 years, but you'll the stress of dealing with your creditors will be done, and you can get on with your life. If BK is not an option then take the time to learn how the game is played, and take control all of this yourself. If you learn to use the FDCPA to your advantage, you may even make a few bucks off the low-life collectors that make their money off of other people's misfortune.

[miracle]

Take it from me... I have WORKED for Lexington.. I have friends that still work for Lexington. It is NOT worth the money you spend on them. If you want the services they provide all you have to do is make up a letter that sounds like you are an idiot, tell them it isn't your account and that it should be deleted and send it regular mail, to all three CRAs and then in 30 days.. if you haven't gotten results, do it again. This is all they do...

It would take you 20 mintues tops and cost you about maybe 5 bucks.

YOu are much better off to go with Xan's advice if you are desperate not to do it yourself. In my experiance, it is better if you do it an go through the process because you will be much less likely to end up there again if you know what hard work it takes.

Good Luck!

[Radio_Guy]

Hi Screwed510,

Welcome.

I really would like to find a company that can do the legwork for me, and it would be worth my money since I much rather spend my time making money...

If you can find a good Credit Repair law firm or company then you are doing better than most Americans who have tried to find a decent one.

You are going to do almost the same amount of legwork whether or not you hire a firm to do it for you or not. First you have to find a firm, check them out, interview them, check references etc. (How long will this search process take you? 10 - 20 hours?) If they are good they will pester you for documentation, dunning letters, Blah Blah Blah... If they aren't good then you've just wasted your money and still have bad credit.

This process isn't THAT hard. Buy the book, read it and invest 4-5 hours a week for four weeks in Credit Repair and you we be well on your way to repaired credit. Then you just have to invest 1 -2 hours a week for 4-8 more weeks and you should be pretty much done.

AS willingtocope said...

By turning the responsibity for your credit rating over to someone else 99 times out of 100 you wind up with worse credit than you have now.

So yes,

so someone who works 80+ hrs a week, is better off not doing anything than hiring one of these companies?

You can't have it both ways. Either you want good credit, (and will do what it takes to get it,) or you don't.

If time is that much of a problem, then just ignore your credit problems for 7 -8 more years, work your 80 hours a week and most of the problems will go away.

Good luck...

BTW: If you find a good firm, pass it along, I'm sure there are hundreds of people on this website/forum who'd love to know the name of a good credit repair firm.

[nusteem]

radio guy

What "Book" are you speaking about??

[Radio_Guy]

OH Sorry,

The book by the Site Admin, Kristy.

"Good Credit is Sexy"

Good luck...

[nusteem]

I just ordered it!

[miracle]

Woo hoo!

[Fed_Up!]

To Screwed510:

I did use Lexington for about 6 months where they charged me every month and only sent 1 set of disputes to the CRA's. I signed up with a second company and they DID send disputes to the CRA's every month. I got maybe 4 deletes. That was all they did. I stopped using them because when it came time to start suing CA's and CRA's for verifying false info, they couldn't do it because it was not part of their services. Your best bet is to go to NACA.net and find an attorney in your area and hire them to do the work.